| God is calling us into His redemptive work |
 Last night, there was a shooting at the 'drug' house (two doors down from the prayer house), not long after our prayer meeting ended. Earlier that day I opened an email to read about another pastor murdered in a nation hostile to the gospel. His name was Artur he was shot in the back of the head as he was walking to his car leaving church, he was a faithful witness to Christ in his life and he leaves behind him his wife and five kids. All around us we see pain that reminds us the world is not as it should be.
This only makes even more beautiful and astonishing the works of redemption that God does through us as we move in mercy and compassion towards those suffering around us; in some mysterious way they find their pain lifted and some balm of consolation poured upon their wounds. Let us remember that we can still do our share to redeem the world in spite of its darkness and disappointments. I love this quote by F.W. Boreham, "Though love's labor often seems lost, it has results that would surprise you. Lift up your hearts!" |
| How do we measure our worth? |
I've been with Antioch Network five years, and am preparing to begin the third year of Apprenticeship to Jesus-Phoenix, a work that God has been birthing in and through me. I have been with team, and mentors working hard to articulate the mission and core values of A2J. This has led me to a season of assessing the work as well as my own life. This is not easy to do. As humans we think about ourselves in terms of our accomplishments in life, and a lot of our happiness or sadness depends on how we evaluate our contribution or lack of in the world around us. The more I experience life, I believe life is a journey of learning to be faithful and not successful. I wonder how we would have assessed Jesus' ministry as it was happening or how it appeared to end on the cross alone. Would we have seen his ministry as a failure? Jesus was faithful, he was obedient to His Father, "he learned obedience through what he suffered"
 As Jesus' apprentice, I have been learning from him how to live allof my life as it was meant to be; a robust and dynamic life full of purpose and meaning even in the repetitive and relentless demands of work and parenting. Jesus came to show us the good and beautiful life and he came to awaken in us the desire for such a life. But he doesn't leave us with this desire unmet; He does the most amazing work of transforming us from the inside so that wehave the ability to consitently do what is good and beautiful.
As I evaluate my life and the ministry of A2J I believe it can be said that it is being marked by a progressive learning to obey Jesus from a renovated heart fully alive and in love with the triune God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I pray God chooses to continue to bless A2J as we learn to be faithful in the areas he has called us, such as the call to love and serve refugees, and to see God establish the A2J prayer house as a place where believers from all over the city can come to meet with God and with united and reconciled hearts intercede for the city, nation, and world. But I pray we always keep at the core the goal of becoming like Christ who for the joy set before him endured the cross.
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How you can Support Apprenticeship to Jesus |
Join our Prayer team-email me if you would like to receive our regular prayer requests
Financial support-you can donate online. Contact me if you have any questions, I would love to talk to you.
Be involved-there are a variety of ways to connect-from joining us for morning prayer to teaching ESL to refugees.
We have several one-time needs:
Web site gifts-We are hoping to build a web site to help us communicate what God is doing-consider giving a financial gift towards this.
Refugee property gifts-we are currently running about $500 short of our operational expenses for the refugee property-consider a one-time gift to help us get caught up
Desktop computer- For ESL and Prayer House Ministry . Donate a used one, give a financial gift towards a new one.
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| Important Invitation and prayer request |
 Save the Date: On August 19th from 7pm-8:30pm we will be sharing an importan update on the Apprenticeship to Jesus Ministry at our home (1215 W. Monroe Street) We will have a second one on August 28th 6:30pm-8:00pm at our house also. Please join us for one of these evenings
Also this Wednesday night we will be having an informational meeting for anyone who wants to be involved with us working with refugees. It will be at the prayer house (115 N. 12th Ave.) from 7pm-8:30pm
Please call with any questions on my cell phone 602-791-4892
Finally please pray for our community as some of us head out next weekend for the PCM conference at Wheaton and others head to the Apprenticeship to Jesus institute in Austin TX
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